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According to a story in the Economic Daily News of Taiwan, Apple will be using aluminum rather than glass for the back material in the iPhone 5's case. This report is being echoed by a source at Foxconn, who is telling 9to5Mac that the iPhone 5 prototype has already been seen at their factory and is very similar in shape to the iPhone 4. Signal problems that would be caused by a metal case are said to be avoided by essentially putting the antenna in the Apple logo on the back.

The Japanese blog Macotakara reports on a story in the Economic Daily News purportedly claiming that Apple has abandoned the Gorilla Glass back for the next generation iPhone. (Unintelligible googletrans here: it says nothing about metal but does contain a reference to the "Taiwan factory fun," which is awesome.) According to Macokatara, the switch to an aluminum case back was driven by problems with painting the glass back, weight and undesirable wear and scratching. 9to5Mac notes that despite reports of a curved back like the iPad's, the iPhone 5 will have a flat back like the iPhone 4.

9to5Mac's report also says that their source did not specify the kind of metal to be used, but nevertheless speculates that the back will be made of Liquidmetal rather than aluminum. The original iPhone had an aluminum case back, but with a little plastic cap on the bottom to avoid blocking the antenna. This problem would be avoided if Apple keeps the stainless steel edge antenna of the iPhone 4, but the EDN report claims that Apple will abandon it in response to the "death grip" issue. Instead, the Apple logo on the back of the iPhone 5 will be made of a resin that is transparent to radio waves.

There has been growing concern that the new A5 system on a chip - twice as big as the A4 - might not fit in the iPhone. However, the Economic Daily News report flatly asserts that there is "no doubt" that the iPhone 5 will have the A5. The release date is expected to be in June or July, in line with previous models.